Eiffel Tower chief to quit after female staff replaced by men during religious visit
The director general of the company managing the Eiffel Tower is resigning following a controversy where female staff were sidelined during a visit by a Hindu religious group. The incident, which involved requests to limit interactions with women, sparked strikes and condemnation from French officials.
Why it matters
The event highlights the tension between accommodating religious practices and upholding secular workplace equality standards in France.
Image source, GettyImages Image caption, A delegation of BAPS Hindu monks visited the Eiffel Tower as part of a visit to Paris to open a new temple earlier this month
The chief executive of the company that runs the Eiffel Tower will step down after a backlash over female staff being replaced by male colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, who has been director general of the Paris landmark since 2018, will leave his job at the end of the year, the company SETE said in a statement.
It said an internal investigation found that "operational flaws and shortcomings" in organising the visit led to the "unacceptable" removal of female staff.
They were replaced by male colleagues as a delegation of around 100 people linked to the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) group visited the Eiffel Tower earlier this month.
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